3.5 Stars (out of 4)

Watch Kho Gaye Hum Kahan on Netflix

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan thoughtfully explores relationship challenges in the age of social media. Debutant writer-director Arjun Varain Singh integrates smartphones into the lives of his characters organically, emphasizing their importance without letting the tech overshadow the humans at the heart of the story.

Three Mumbai twentysomethings have been best friends forever. Imaad (Siddhant Chaturvedi) can afford to pursue his dream of being a stand-up comedian, thanks to his rich dad (played by Rahul Vohra). Corporate consultant Ahana (Ananya Panday) shares an apartment with Imaad but is dating Rohan (Rohan Gurbaxani). Personal trainer Neil (Adarsh Gourav) lives with his working-class parents and wants to open his own gym.

Their love lives are rocky. Rohan asks Ahana to take a break but immediately posts suspicious cupcake photos to his Instagram and likes posts by a beautiful baking influencer. Neil is hooking up with another influencer named Lala (Anya Singh), who’s also one of his personal training clients — although Neil is convinced their relationship is more exclusive than it is. Imaad uses a fake name to meet women on Tinder, then ghosts them after they have sex.

Imaad’s romantic fortunes change when he meets Simran (Kalki Koechlin), a photographer working on an exhibition about Tinder users. She’s older and more mature than Imaad is, yet they have enough fun together for them to consider committing to one another.

Meanwhile, Neil is increasingly angry at Lala’s refusal to make their relationship public and for her flirting with a potential advertiser. Ahana posts racy photos to her own Instagram account in order to get Rohan’s attention. It works.

The trio also decide to go into business together and make Neil’s dream of owning a gym a reality. Ahana quits her dead-end office job to focus on a business strategy, and Imaad invests the money — although his dad warns him that money isn’t the only thing that can be lost when you start a company with your friends.

While the characters’ relationship problems aren’t new, Director Singh skillfully shows how constant access to social media adds a fresh layer of complexity to them. Smartphones have only been around for an eye-blink of human history, and it’s unreasonable to expect us as a species to immediately adapt individually and culturally to the profound emotional consequences of such technological advancement. Singh’s screenplay — which was co-written with Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, and Yash Sahai — offers a comprehensive snapshot of this moment in history for Generation Z.

The only real complaint about the writing is Imaad’s stand-up comedy material. Stand-up routines within movies are often uncomfortable to watch, and none of the writers are themselves comedians. That said, Imaad’s material sounds amateurish enough to befit his status as a comic who hasn’t hit it big yet. Chaturvedi does reasonably well given the challenge of performing the sometimes awkward material he’s given.

Neil is the most volatile of the main characters, and Gourav plays him within the perfect emotional range. When Neil takes revenge via social media, it reinforces the technological themes in Singh’s story.

Panday is so natural as Ahana that she disappears into the role, delivering a subtle and wholly believable performance. This should erase any doubts for those still skeptical of Panday’s abilities.

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan puts a modern spin on the classic problems of young adulthood. I’m excited to see what Arjun Varian Singh does next.

Links

• Kho Gaye Hum Kahan at Wikipedia
• Kho Gaye Hum Kahan at IMDb